In recent years, nutritionists at home and abroad have been calling for the inclusion of coarse grains in the diet for better health. However, with a wide variety of coarse grains, how can people of different ages choose and combine them most effectively?
Brown Rice
Elderly: Add some brown rice to white rice. While white rice can provide the necessary nutrients and energy for the body, brown rice contains much higher levels of nutrients, especially dietary fiber, which aids gastrointestinal motility and can alleviate digestive system issues such as stomach pain and constipation. Furthermore, brown rice can lower cholesterol and triglycerides, preventing cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and cancer. Therefore, it is advisable for the elderly to add some brown rice when steaming white rice.
However, cooking brown rice is more time-consuming. It is recommended to soak it in cold water overnight before cooking. When steaming the rice, the best ratio is two parts white rice to one part brown rice.
Children: A bowl of millet porridge every day. Millet contains carotene and B vitamins not found in other coarse grains, which helps strengthen children's digestive function. The nutrients in millet are very easily absorbed by the human body, earning it the name "health rice," and it is especially suitable for children with weaker digestive systems.
The most common way to prepare millet is as a porridge. It can also be paired with other ingredients like pumpkin, Chinese yam, sweet potato, or lily to make porridges with different flavors for enhanced health benefits.
Young and middle-aged men: Eat more black rice to nourish the kidneys. Black rice has the effects of nourishing yin and kidneys, replenishing qi and strengthening the body, and tonifying the liver and improving eyesight. Its nutritional value is higher than that of regular rice, and regular consumption can protect the cardiovascular system, making it an ideal health food.
There are many ways to eat black rice, such as steamed rice or porridge, both are good choices. However, black rice is not easy to cook soft, so it should be soaked overnight before cooking.
Young and middle-aged women: Job's tears for beauty, and glutinous rice for warming. The *Compendium of Materia Medica* records that job's tears can "invigorate the spleen and benefit the stomach, supplement the lungs and clear heat, nourish the complexion and preserve youth, and lighten the body and extend life." It is rich in vitamin E and B vitamins, which have a skin-lightening and whitening effect. In addition, job's tears helps with weight control because it contains the most dietary fiber among the five grains and is low in fat and calories.
Glutinous rice can nourish qi and blood, strengthen the spleen and warm the stomach, and has a certain relieving effect on a cold and weak spleen and stomach, poor appetite, and abdominal bloating or diarrhea. In addition to being a staple food, there are many ways to eat glutinous rice, such as glutinous rice wine, which has the effects of relaxing muscles and activating blood circulation, and beautifying the skin and complexion. When used in dishes, glutinous rice has a soft texture and a sweet and delicious taste when made into snacks. However, glutinous rice is sticky and difficult to digest, so it should not be eaten in large quantities. It is recommended to be eaten as a side dish.
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